Softball heavyweights NBC, Steinert to square off despite weather-shortened tourney
It was one of those weeks in area softball where what didn’t happen was almost as newsworthy as what did. Fortunately, a big addition has helped fill the void when a game pitting No. 2 Northern Burlington at No. 3 Steinert Saturday morning at 11 was arranged at the last minute.
The first thing that didn’t happen was the semifinals and finals of the Rancocas Valley Tournament last weekend. Things started going haywire when Cherokee was forced to pull out after beating Rancocas Valley in the quarterfinals because of a senior class trip.
The thermometer then plunged over 30 degrees Saturday night, leading to a somewhat bizarre scene Sunday at noon. With its semifinal opponent Vineland already there an hour earlier, Steinert pulled into the Rancocas Valley parking lot, was greeted by an arctic blast when it got out of the bus for a few minutes, got back in the bus and drove home.
Although it could have played Northern Burlington in the finals after NBC received a bye with the withdrawal by Cherokee, Vineland then decided it didn’t want to play in the frigid conditions either and headed home as well.
What also didn’t happen was the completion of the Burlington County Scholastic Tournament. The finals were supposed to be Saturday, but everything got out of whack when Trenton Catholic — of all things — decided an earlier loss against Burlington City should not count as a BCSL Tourney game.
This meant it was impossible to have four semifinalist by Friday night and when this seemingly ill-fated tourney will now be completed is up in the air. Hopefully, it won’t be like last year when it took until nearly the Fourth of July to get the darn thing finished.
As mentioned above, the good news is that although the anticipated Steinert-NBC collision of two Central Jersey Group III heavyweights didn’t happen at the RV Tourney, it will Saturday in regular season action.
This is another addition to a great schedule for Northern Burlington in a season in which coach Brian Wolverton is apparently determined to pack as much quality action as he can into his one year filling in for Tara Corcoran.
Wolverton, of course, previously coached at Northern Burlington before coaching Rutgers Camden for seven years. On Thursday, NBC beat Bordentown for Wolverton’s 200th victory at NBC, which is particularly impressive when you consider he reached that total in a little over 10 seasons.
Anyway, in addition to the Rancocas Valley, BCSL and the Hammonton tournaments, Northern Burlington has put the likes of Burlington Township, West Windsor North, Mt. St. Dominic, Notre Dame and - in the biggest one of all — Robbinsville on its regular-season schedule. There’s even talk of possibly playing Neshaminy in May.
Wolverton also inquired about having a four-team round robin with two top teams from Pennsylvania and two from New Jersey. It’s a great idea, but because of the PIAA’s absurdly outdated 20-game limit it would never happen. The Pennsylvania coaches have been complaining about the 20-game rule for decades, but as is usual for the dinosaurs who run the PIAA, nothing ever happens.
Speaking of Pennsylvania against New Jersey, Neshaminy will be at Notre Dame Tuesday in a game that will be videostreamed live on wbcbsports.com
This will be the third time these two have met over the last four or so years with the Irish having prevailed in the first two. If Notre Dame can make it three in a row it would really be impressive because No. 4 Neshaminy has been storming its way through the Suburban One National League. Senior third baseman Natalie Rios, for one, has been going absolutely ballistic at the plate.
ODDS AND ENDS
While it’s easy to identify the teams that are going to be high in the rankings, it’s always interesting to see which emerge from the remainder of the pack.
One such team is Delaware Valley. Coached by the classy Asa “The Prophet’’ Whitaker, who has well over 500 wins, Delaware Valley is off to an 8-1 start. DelVal is part of a strong Central Jersey Group II bracket that includes Robbinsville and has been beefed up even more with the addition of last year’s Group III state champ South Plainfield.
Among the other teams that have impressed in the early going are the Indian district’s Cherokee and Lenape. Although neither has a truly dominant pitcher, both of these top 10 squads feature athletic girls who can really hit.
And, of course, there’s also Burlington Township. Featuring sophomore pitcher Bailey Enoch and some productive players such as Gracyn Banks and Mackenzie Fitzpatrick, the Falcons are still undefeated. Township already owns a win over Rancocas Valley and will host NBC Tuesday.
As for Mercer County, keep an eye on Hightstown. The Rams are very young with a host of freshman starters, but they do have sophomore pitcher Allie Bridgman and will only get better.
